Mobirise vs WordPress.com
We give Mobirise a 2.2 GPA and WordPress.com a 3.4, out of 4.0. Mobirise grades higher on the free plan. WordPress.com grades higher on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Mobirise
Free desktop website builder with paid themes, extensions and AI
WordPress.com
Hosted WordPress with themes, plugins and a free plan
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAMobiriseFair | 3.4GPAWordPress.comVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CThe app is free, but a site needs a server: BASE is $199 a year, about $16.58 a month, for hosting on your own domain, and KIT at $149 a year only unlocks themes in the app. That's the middle of this category. Hosting you already pay for costs nothing extra. | APersonal is $4 a month for one site on yearly billing ($9 monthly), with your own domain, no ads and plugin installs. That's under 60% of this category's cheapest quarter ($5.40). Payment buttons need Premium, which is still only $8. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe desktop app is free for personal and commercial use, publishes unlimited sites to your own hosting or a free mobirisesite.com address, and gives 3 AI generations a month. One person could live on that; premium themes are the main thing missing. | CFree for good with unlimited pages and posts, but it's on a wordpress.com address with 1 GB of storage, WordPress.com ads shown to your visitors and no plugins. Fine for a hobby blog, not a business. |
| Features | CAn offline drag-and-drop builder, publishing anywhere with full code export, AI site generation and 220+ themes and extensions in the Kit. Selling is done with cart extensions through PayPal, Stripe or WhatsApp rather than a full store. | AEvery paid plan can install any of more than 60,000 plugins, which no other builder here matches. Add themes, the block editor, WooCommerce on Commerce, and SSH, WP-CLI and GitHub deployments on Business, and it covers the whole job and then some. |
| Ease of use | CNo app store rating on record. You install it and start dragging blocks in, but you still build every page and, unless you pay for BASE, sort out your own hosting. | B4.62 from about 22,300 App Store ratings. The AI builder gets a site going through a chat, but with plugins and themes in the mix there's more to choose and set than in a closed builder. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWindows and Mac, plus Mobirise AI in a browser, which is still computers only, with no Linux and no phone app. Its connections are payment and social ones: PayPal, Stripe, WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube. | AWeb, iPhone and Android, plus WordPress Studio on Mac, Windows and Linux for building sites locally. Plugins connect it to almost anything, alongside WooCommerce, Jetpack, PayPal, Stripe and GitHub. |
| Best for | building sites offline and hosting them anywhere | WordPress without running your own server |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Mobirise and WordPress.com. How we grade
Price against what you get
Mobirise starts at $12.42 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. WordPress.com starts at $4 a month and scores 3.7.
WordPress.com scores higher and starts $8.42 a month lower. Of the other website and landing page builders on the chart, 9 score higher than Mobirise for less, and none scores higher than WordPress.com for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Mobirise starts at $149 per year (KIT). WordPress.com starts at $4 per site / month, billed yearly ($9 billed monthly).
- Only WordPress.com lists iOS, Android and Linux apps.
- Mobirise also covers forms.
- WordPress.com also covers email campaigns.
At a glance
| Mobirise | WordPress.com | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $149 per year (KIT) | $4 per site / month, billed yearly ($9 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | The desktop app is free for personal and commercial use, with free blocks, publishing to any hosting or a free mobirisesite.com subdomain, and 3 AI generations a month. | a wordpress.com subdomain, 1 GB of storage, unlimited pages and posts and 7 days of basic stats. Visitors see WordPress.com ads, and plugins need a paid plan. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Mobirise | Automattic Inc. |
| Price read from | mobirise.com | wordpress.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Mobirise
- People who want to build sites offline and host them anywhere
- Designers making client sites, which the Kit license allows without a site limit
- Anyone who wants a no-cost builder for simple Bootstrap sites
WordPress.com
- Bloggers and writers who want WordPress without running a server
- Sites that need a specific WordPress plugin or theme
- Developers who want SSH, WP-CLI and Git on managed hosting
Worth knowing
Mobirise
- The desktop app runs on Windows and Mac only; there is no Linux version.
- Premium themes and extensions are sold only through the Kit, which runs for a year. If it is not renewed, premium blocks, updates and support switch off.
- Hosting, custom domains and more than 3 AI generations a month need BASE or GROW; KIT covers the desktop app only.
- A Kit activates on up to 2 computers; 10 needs the Enterprise license, whose price is not shown on the pricing page.
WordPress.com
- The free plan shows WordPress.com ads to visitors and cannot use a custom domain or plugins.
- Monthly billing costs more than double the yearly rate on Personal and Premium and does not include the free first-year domain.
- Backups, developer tools and priority support start on Business at $25 a month billed yearly.
- The desktop app, WordPress Studio, is for building sites locally; site management on the go uses the Jetpack mobile app.
Key features
Mobirise
- Offline drag-and-drop builder
- Pages are built on your computer from pre-made blocks for menus, galleries, sliders and forms, edited like a text document and saved to a local folder.
- Publish anywhere or export code
- Sites go to your own hosting, to a free mobirisesite.com subdomain or to a custom domain, and the full HTML, CSS and JavaScript can be exported.
- Mobirise AI
- A browser-based builder turns a prompt in any language into layouts, text, images and video, with hosting included. Its sites can be edited in the desktop app too.
- Themes and extensions
- More than 220 premium Bootstrap 5 themes and extensions, such as Code Editor, Form Builder, Popup Builder, Password Protect and social feeds, come with the Kit.
- Shop and cart extensions
- Simple Shop, Smart Cart and PayPal Shopping Cart add product blocks and checkout through PayPal and Stripe, or take orders as WhatsApp messages.
- Code Editor
- The Code Editor extension opens a site's HTML and CSS for manual edits, external plugins and custom blocks made from scratch.
WordPress.com
- Themes and the block editor
- Sites are built from free and premium themes in the WordPress block editor, with unlimited pages, posts and users on every plan.
- Plugins on every paid plan
- Personal and above can install any of more than 60,000 plugins from the marketplace or upload one directly. The free plan cannot.
- AI site builder and assistant
- A guided builder creates a site through a chat, within usage limits. Business and Commerce add the WordPress AI Assistant for content, design and site management.
- Managed hosting and security
- Every plan includes a global CDN, SSL, a firewall, malware removal and managed updates. Real-time backups and one-click restores start on Business.
- Developer access
- Business and Commerce add SFTP and SSH, WP-CLI, Git commands and GitHub deployments. WordPress Studio, a free desktop app, runs WordPress sites locally.
- WooCommerce store
- Commerce bundles WooCommerce extensions for unlimited products, upsells, bulk discounts and inventory, and accepts 135+ currencies.
Plans
Mobirise
FREE$0
The desktop app with free blocks and themes, unlimited sites published to your own hosting, and 3 AI generations a month.
KIT$149
per year
All 220+ premium themes and extensions for unlimited offline sites with no Mobirise branding, for the desktop app only.
BASE$199
per year
Everything in KIT plus premium AI designs, 3 online sites with hosting, custom domains, site export and 100 AI generations a month.
GROW$249
per year
Everything in BASE with 10 online sites and 1,000 AI generations a month, aimed at client work.
WordPress.com
Free$0
A wordpress.com subdomain, 1 GB of storage and basic stats, with WordPress.com ads shown to visitors.
Personal$4
per site / month, billed yearly ($9 billed monthly)
6 GB of storage, no ads, all premium themes, plugin installs and the AI site builder. $2.75 a month if paid every 3 years.
Premium$8
per site / month, billed yearly ($18 billed monthly)
13 GB of storage, premium stats with UTM tracking, PayPal and Stripe payment buttons and video uploads. $5.50 a month if paid every 3 years.
Business$25
per site / month, billed yearly ($40 billed monthly)
50 GB, priority support, SFTP/SSH, WP-CLI and GitHub deployments, real-time backups, VideoPress and email marketing to 500 subscribers.
Commerce$45
per site / month, billed yearly ($70 billed monthly)
Everything in Business plus WooCommerce store extensions, abandoned-cart emails and selling in 60+ countries with no transaction fee.
EnterpriseCustom
WordPress VIP hosting for large organizations, priced through sales.
Ways to pay less
Mobirise
No public discounts listed.
WordPress.com
- Annual discount
Pay yearly to save 35% to 55% over monthly
Personal is $4 a month billed yearly against $9 monthly; Premium $8 against $18; Business $25 against $40; Commerce $45 against $70.
- Other savings
Pay every 2 or 3 years for a lower monthly rate
Paying every 3 years brings Personal to $2.75 a month ($99), Premium to $5.50 ($198), Business to $17.50 ($630) and Commerce to $31.50 ($1,134).
- Other savings
Free domain for the first year
Yearly and multi-year paid plans include a custom domain such as .com, .net or .org free for the first year. Monthly plans do not.
